I can remember the first time my husband called me after he’d found and tried a guided meditation on YouTube while I was out for lunch. I had called him on the phone and he’d picked up but sounded strange, a little choked up and when I asked what was wrong (as this is so out of character for him) he told me about trying out the meditation and being emotionally moved by it.

I’d never really given meditation much thought, I just didn’t think that I had the ability to quieten my mind enough to get any benefit, but when he suggested I give it a go when I got home, I thought “why not”. I hadn’t even heard of guided meditation, so was unsure what to expect and I was very pleasantly surprised.

I found that I was kick-starting my imagination back into gear. Remember those precious years when you were a child where you could build whole worlds in your head? As we grow older many of us lose this ability, but it’s not gone forever, it just needs a nudge to get moving again and that is why I have come to love guided meditation. Not only does it breathe new life into my day but allows me the time to revert back to that childlike state of pure imagination and, having used this form of meditation for over a year now, I feel my sense of mental equilibrium has improved, my mindfulness has improved, I feel a sense of peacefulness and have an increased ability to take a step back from situations in order to make better decisions.

It’s also helped me to grieve.

Emotionally, I struggled a bit after the death of a very close family member. I packed away my feelings of loss and got on with things, to the point where I imagine that people think I have no emotions whatsoever. Those steps of grief you read about are true and for me I kind of got stuck in the guilt part of it, “I should have called more”, I should have visited more”, “did they know how much they were loved”, all these thoughts swirling through your mind and the fact that we can’t go back and change anything that we have, or have not done in the past becomes ever more infuriating and yet is completely futile. It serves us no purpose to be like this, and our loved ones certainly would not want us to feel the way we do.

Through some of the guided meditation I was able to really come to terms with that loss and to create a different way of thinking about those who are no longer with us. To think of them with love, smiles and above all else at peace.

These days I love taking a guided meditation after a busy day or after a deadline where things have been non stop and I just need to hit pause and reset how I’m feeling. It totally works for me and I’m hoping it might for anyone else who gives it a go.

There are so many meditation classes to choose from on YouTube and I think we were very fortunate that my husband had found The Honest Guys. There are a lot of poor quality meditations out there that can be off putting, but I love the topics, voice and musical accompaniments that The Honest Guys use, but of course that might not be for you, so try out different classes until you find a voice that suits you and you are comfortable with.

We started with this Guided Meditation

And this is my new favourite.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.